OK, so I though I should some pics of the actual guitar rather than just some generic pics off t’interweb. What you’re looking at here is a Squire Fat Telecaster, with a Seymour Duncan HotRails in the bridge, and a 59 Model in the neck.

The strings currently fitted are 10-52 Fender Stainless “350”. But normally I sue Ernie Ball “Skinny Top Heavy Bottom” which are the same size, but a bit easier on the frets. The Fenders sound great but are a bit abbrasive on the poor fret wire. I’ve also stopped using the Fender strings on the Jag-Stang as you could actually see the wear!

Also worthy of note is the saddles. When I first started gigging with this guitar, it would break strings with regularity. It was a constant source of frustration, and often the reason why you would see my playing the Ja-Stang a the end of a gig. (and also why you would often see the Telecaster flying accross the stage).

I soon realised that the strings were snapping at the saddle, so I had them filed and grooved by a luthier. It didn’t help much, so after a bit of investigation I came accross the Graph Tech saddles. Now, not only do these things look cool (being black graphite) they self lubricate and in theory, microscopically mould to the string. The end result is that I haven’t broken a single string since I fitted them. They’re also really comfy for blocking.

Another modification I’ve made is to the switchgear. As I rarely switch pups, but regularly alter the tone and volume, I switch the plate around. It also means it’s alot harder to accidently switch pickups when you’re jumping around the stage. It’s an idea I saw and blatently robbed from the Fender Custom Classic Telecaster. Now that I’ve got better pickup balance I might well reverse the plate again…we shall see!

The final mod (which was actually the first) was to change the jack socket. It’s a real weakspot on the Telecaster. The normal/vintage jack is held in place by a flexed piece of steel which pushes against the sides of the cavity. It’s a rubbish design becuase if you stand on your guitar cable, it will sometimes pull the socket right out, and there’s no way in hell it will go back in the middle of a gig, it’s screwdrivers and pliers time! So a quick visit to Stewmac, a couple of days on a DHL plane and I had a nice new Electrosocket. This is a machine lathed piece of aluminium which is screwed in place. There’s no moving it now!

End result of all these things is a Telecaster which is a real workhorse. It’s robust, reliable and sounds better than any off the shelf Fender.